Osun Election: ADC Governorship Candidate Calls Out INEC Over Agents’ Tags

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Najeem Salaam, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of denying some of his party’s agents accreditation tags in several parts of the state.

Salaam raised the allegation after arriving at his polling unit at 10:39 a.m. on Saturday, saying ADC had uploaded the names of its agents on INEC’s platform before the election.

He described the alleged failure to recognise the agents as “worrisome and disturbing”, warning that it could affect the party’s ability to monitor the counting and collation of votes at polling units.

According to him, all the ADC agents in Ward 5 in Ijebu were denied tags, while similar complaints came from about 10 local government areas across Osun.

“The report of my agent being recognised in most of the wards across the state is worrisome and disturbing,” Salaam said.

He stressed that accredited party agents play a crucial role during vote counting because they must be present to observe and monitor the process.

“Because when they are counting the votes, it will be necessary for my agent to be recognised at the polling unit,” he said.

Salaam said the party had reported the matter to the relevant authorities, who were investigating the complaints. He added that voting remained peaceful in Ijebu when he assessed the situation.

The ADC candidate questioned how INEC could fail to issue accreditation tags to agents whose details the party had already submitted through the commission’s platform.

“When you request the party to upload their party agent, and we did, I don’t understand how and why the party agent will not be given a tag,” he said.

“So if at the end of the day we do not have this, then the process is very questionable.”

Despite the complaint, Salaam expressed confidence that he could win the election if INEC provided a level playing field and voters exercised their choice without interference.

“For it to be a fair and free election, with no rigging, manipulation, a level playing field, I trust my God that I’m going to win the election,” he said.

The ADC candidate also rejected allegations that the party engaged in vote buying, insisting that it had concentrated on explaining its programmes to voters.

“We converse with the people, we let them know our programmes, and that is exactly what we do. Vote buying is out of it. I have never in my life bought votes,” he said.

Salaam said voters should have the freedom to choose their preferred candidate, while expressing concern over what he described as the large amounts of money allegedly circulating in the state during the election.

“People will decide whom they want, and I think it should be very fair enough for them to have the right to choose whom they prefer as a candidate or as the governor of the state,” he said.